tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2482850451523597498.post1701666629512182139..comments2017-12-11T21:21:13.233-08:00Comments on The Rachel Mann Blogspot: 'Oh Mother!' What's at stake in our God-TalkRachel Mannhttps://plus.google.com/118403065266198938439noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2482850451523597498.post-63734996279407708572015-06-03T13:15:18.294-07:002015-06-03T13:15:18.294-07:00Thank you for this.
I agree that woman in variou...Thank you for this. <br /><br />I agree that woman in various times have not been acknowledged and appreciated as they should. As a church we need to do all we can to insure that women are affirmed in the life of the church, that their gifts are appreciated, and that they are celebrated for who God has created them to be. <br /><br />However, I don&#39;t think calling God Father, Son has much to do with discrimination against women, nor do I agree with the view that God as Father stands in the way of appreciating and celebrating women. <br /><br />Here are few reasons:<br /><br />1. God as Father is not God made in male image. God as Father is beyond our human experience of fatherhood. The language of Fatherhood when used of God is not metaphorical. God - in and of himself is Father. His fatherhood is far greater than any earthly father humanity have ever known. In fact God&#39;s fatherhood rather than fashioning itself on human male fatherhood, it deliberately sets itself apart from it. Calling human fathers evil (Matt 7:11) not allowing us to think God affirms us but rather calls us to fashion our earthly fatherhood on his one. <br />2. Jesus, I am sure we all agree, valued humanity - male and female alike. He did not show partiality, while the 12 apostles where male, he valued his blessed Mother greatly; likewise he had a high regard for the Mary-es whom he appointed as first witnesses of his resurrection. In short Jesus affirmed both sexes - and if I understand anything form Gal.3:27-19 it would be that, rather than blurring the opposites, we are called to delight and embrace the uniqueness of the other. <br />That being the case, we find that same Jesus teaches us to call God Father &#39;Abba&#39;. <br />(I am sure when Jesus said that he did not think for a second that God as Father stand in the way of women recognition). So, for me, I call God Father, because that is what Jesus taught us. He has revealed God as Father to us.<br />3. I grow up in a Muslim society where male dominance and authoritative figureheads are much more common than they are in the West. Yet when we become Christians, both male and female, rejoiced in the fact that God is our Father and we are his children and that Jesus is our Brother. We never saw this as an extension of male dominance, we knew that God as Father entails motherhood also. Calling God Father includes the feminine attributes we read in the Scriptures. <br />4. Finally, I worry that this debate risks dragging God to our human level and tray to create him in our image. As I said earlier, when we call God Father, Son, and Spirit that is who God is, yet these titles are way beyond our human experience. We can only through grace stat to apprehend the Fatherhood of God. Let us learn from St. Athanasius who argues that, God is not dictated by language’s natural grammar; rather language is dictated by, and redefined in light of divine revelation. ‘For terms do not disparage His Nature; rather that Nature draws to itself those terms and changes them.’ Neither can we introduce the concept of ‘time’ or ‘matter’ into the life and being of God; for ‘God does not make man his pattern’. <br /><br />I worry that by using God&#39;s identity to prove a point such as this, we may end up not gaining a Mother and in the same time loosing him as a Father. Hence we end up calling God: it, creator or unoriginate. <br />I suggest that we should let Jesus’ humanity affirms us both as male and female, and follow the example of St. Paul who rejoices in calling God ‘Abba’ yet he sees this revelation as a affirmation of male and female. Again Gla. 3<br /><br />Many thanks <br /><br />Fr. Timothy <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2482850451523597498.post-32450657596336901322015-06-02T08:28:21.578-07:002015-06-02T08:28:21.578-07:00I wonder if those who first heard Jesus refer to G...I wonder if those who first heard Jesus refer to God as &#39;Abba&#39; were similarly queasy about how it transformed their idea of who God is. I know that my own experience of God is enriched by the various contrasting images of &#39;Lord&#39; and &#39;Daddy&#39;. I&#39;m also aware that adding &#39;Mother&#39; to this tapestry would alter my prayers and eventually alter who I am. I am therefore not surprised that it is a contentious and difficult issue even among those who haven&#39;t yet reflected on their gut response.<br /><br />As for me, I&#39;ve never experienced God as Mother in my prayers. But perhaps that&#39;s because I&#39;ve never allowed myself to see her in that way - just as it took me a few years to see beyond God solely as Judge.Tess Lowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18395534300762460678noreply@blogger.com